Automobile signal



y 1934. w. w. RIEDEL 1,960,957

AUTOMATIC SIGNAL Filed March 1'7. 1932 Patented May 29, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL Application March 17,

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in electrical switches.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide an electrical switch adapted to control both the tail and stop lights of a motor vehicle. This has been accomplished by means of a circuit closer having a plurality of circuit connections, of which one circuit is specific tothe tail light while another is related only to the stop light.

A further object of the invention is to provide an electrical switch for controlling both the tail and stop lights of a motor vehicle which is adapted to cut one of the lights out of the circuit with a source of electrical energy when the other light is brought into said circuit, thereby avoiding a waste of current. This has been accomplished by providing the contacts of a multicircuit closer in such relation that one circuit is closed at or just prior to the opening of another circuit.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the electrical switch, portions thereof being shown in elevation more clearly to show their construction.

Fig. 2 is a view of the switch with the cover removed.

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view showing the movable contact member and its carrier.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the rotatable shaft of the switch.

Fig. 5 shows the spring which is adapted not only to rotate the shaft in one direction, but to urge the movable contact so as to insure engagement thereof with the stationary contacts.

Fig. '6 is a diagrammatic view showing the switch in circuit connections with the source of electrical energy and the tail and stop lights of the'vehicle and mechanically connected with the brake operating pedal of the vehicle.

Referring to the drawing, the switch is shown comprising a housing made up of any suitable molda'ble insulating material such as bakelite. A cover 21 is provided on the switch, being secured thereto by a plurality of screws 22. This cover has an extension 23 providing a foot by which the switch may be attached to any suitable part of the vehicle upon which it is used. The bottom or end wall 24 of the housing 20 has 1932, Serial No. 599,410

an opening 25 which is in coaxial alignment with a similar opening 26 in the cover 21 when said cover is secured to the housing. These openings provide journals supporting the portions 2'7 and 28 of the rotatable shaft 29 of the switch, the portion 27 having an extension 30 knurled to receive the operating lever 31 of the switch. A cross cut 32 in the shaft provides a flat surface 33. A threaded passage 34 is provided in the shaft which receives shouldered screw 35.

The shouldered screw 35 pivotally attaches the carrier 36 to the shaft 29, said carrier resting upon the fiat surface 33 in the shaft andv being maintained thereupon by the head of the screw 35. This carrier 36 may be of the same molded insulating material as is the housing 20, and at its free end there is secured thereto in any suitable manner, preferably molded therein, the bridging contact 37 having oppositely disposed flexible feet 38 and 39, the ends of which are upturned.

In the wall 24 of the housing there are provided three contacts 40, 41 and 42. Contacts 41 and 42 are spaced so that normally the bridging contact member 37 will connect the two. Contact 40 is spaced from contact 41 so that the portion 38 of the bridging contact member 37 engages contact 40, just before the bridging contact portion 39 leaves the contact 42, so that it may be said that just after contacts 40 and 41 are connected, contacts 41 and 42 will be disconnected. An extension or post 45 on the housing 20 provides a stop which prevents the movement of the carrier 36 out of normal position in one direction.

A spring 46 is provided on the shaft 29 so as to have convolutions 47 fitting snugly about said shaft. One end of the spring is bent at an angle as at 50, for fitting and anchoring'into an opening 51 in the cover 21 as shown in Fig. 1, thereby securing this end of the spring to the cover of the switch. The other end of the spring is hookshaped at 52 to fit over the contact carrier'36 as shown also in Fig. 1. In assembling the switch, and before the cover 21 is secured to the housing 20, the cover 21 is rotated relative to the shaft 29 so as to wind up the spring 46, thus thespring normally, yieldably urges the carrier 36 against the stop 45, that may be called the normal position as shown in Fig. 2. As has been mentioned before, in this normal position the bridging member 3'7 of the contact carrier 36 connects stationary contacts or terminals 41 and 42 and is movable to optionably connect the contacts 40 and 41 upon actuation of the lever 31.

Referring to Fig. 6, contact 40 of the switch is connected with the stop-light or stop-lights through the wire 61, and thence connected to ground as at 100. The contact 41 of the switch is connected to the source of electrical energy or storage battery 62 through the wire 63, one side of this storage battery being connected to the ground 100. The contact 42 of the switch is connected to the lighting switch 64 through wire 65, and the switch is connected through wire 66 with the tail light 67, which is also grounded as at 100. The tail light of course is to be included in one or the other of the head light or cowl light circuits 68 and 69 respectively. As illustrated the tail light is shown as connected to the head lights 68.

The numeral '70 designates the brake or other pedal of the vehicle, and is connected with the operating lever 31 of the switch through a rod or cable 71 that has a yieldable member '72 therein so as to prevent derangement of the switch and to permit the brake pedal '70 to be depressed more than is necessary to close the switch contacts 40 and 41.

The spring 46 has one of its convolutions 47a adjacent the hook-end 52 bent outwardly away from the remaining convolutions 47 of the spring, or some of the adjacent convolutions widely spaced, so that when the switch is assembled and the cover 21 is pushed into engagement with the housing 20, the spaced convolutions will engage the contact carrier 36 and the cover 21 so as to urge the carrier toward the wall 24 of the switch housing in which the stationary contacts or terminals 40, 41 and 42 are supported. This spring 46 also is tensioned normally to urge the contact carrying member 36 in a counter-clockwise direction toward the normal position as shown in Fig. 2. It therefore, may be said of the spring, that it has a two-fold function, one affecting the carrier to assure contact engagement when the switch is operated, and another to return the carrier 36 to normal position when the pull upon the operating member thereof is released.

The switch or the system in which it is incorporated, operates in the following manner:

During the daytime when the lighting switch 64 is not closed, the circuit from the storage battery 62 to the tail-light 67 of the vehicle will be opened so that the tail-light will not be illuminated. When the brake pedal '70 is depressed, the contact carrier 36 will move the contact bridging member 3'7 from contact 42 and cause contacts 40 and 41 to become connected so that current may flow from the battery 62 through wire 63 to contact 41, thence across the bridging contact member 37 to the contact 40 and through wire 61 to the stop-light 60 and thence back to the battery via the ground connections 100, thereby illuminating the stop-light and signaling that the vehicle is being brought to a stop. If this oper ation is performed, however, at night or while the tail-light is burning, the bridging contact member 37 in leaving the contact 42 will break the circuit between the tail-light and the storage battery, thereby rendering the tail-light nonoperative while the stop-light 60 is illuminated.

When pressure upon the pedal is released, the bridging contact member 37 engages contact 42 just before it leaves contact 40 so that the stoplight is rendered ineffective only after the taillight is rendered effective. Continued movement of the bridging contact member 37 by the spring 46 toward the normal position causes the bridging member 37 to leave the contact 40 and thus render the stop-light ineffective. This feature of having the stop light or lights and tail-light both lighted for a short interval during the movement of the bridging contact member from one extreme position to its other extreme position will meet the requirements of any law which stipulates that any vehicle being operated at night must, at all times, display a red light at its rear. Of course it will be understood that at least one portion of the stop-light be provided with a red lens or glass.

One advantage of the present invention resides in the fact that this switch will render one light substantially ineffective while the other light is performing its function, thus saving electrical energy, for it is absolutely unnecessary to have both tail and stop-lights illuminated at the same time. Another feature resides in the fact that darkening one light while lighting another provides intervals in illumination or changes in illumination display that more readily attract the attention of a driver following, than when a second light is illuminated while the first light is burning, which latter is no more than adding another light to those already displayed. This is particularly true in the modern vehicle where the stop-lights are usually mounted in pairs one on either side of the body as on the fenders of the vehicle, and the tail-light somewhere in the center of the vehicle, or otherwise removed from each other.

The same principle obtains where one of the pair of tail lights incorporates the stop lights, or even where one of the pair of stop lights incorporates the tail light. In either event there is a perceptible change in the lighting display at the rear of the car, that is marked by the flash of the stop-light substantially coincident with the darkening of the tail light and vice versa, at each operation of the switch actuator.

While the form of embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An electric switch comprising, a housing of insulating material, a cover for the housing, a shaft rotatably supported within said housing and cover; stationary contacts insulatingly carried by the housing; a movable contact insulatingly carried by the shaft; and a spring urging the shaft to normal position and the movable contact into the plane of the stationary contacts.

2. An electric switch comprising, a housing;

stationary contacts insulatingly carried by the housing; a shaft rotatably supported by the housing; an insulating member attached to the shaft so as to be rotatable with and relatively to said shaft; a contact on said insulating member to engage the stationary contacts; and a spring adapted to rotate the shaft in one direction and to pivot the insulating member on said shaft.

3. A circuit control device comprising, in combination, a housing; terminals insulatingly carried by said housing; a rotatable shaft supported in said housing; a contact carrier attached to the shaft so as to rotate therewith and relative thereto; a contact on said carrier; and

means yieldably urging the carrier into normal position by pivoting on an axis perpendicular to the shaft and toward the terminals to insure engagement of the contact with the terminals.

4. A circuit control device comprising, in combination, a housing of insulating material; terminals carried by the housing in spaced relation; a cover plate; a shaft rotatably supported between the housing and cover plate; a contact carrier attached to the shaft so as to rotate therewith and relatively thereto on an axis perpendicular relative to the axis of the shaft; a spring carried by the shaft and engaging the cover plate and contact carrier for rotating the shaft and urging the carrier toward the terminals, and a bridging contact on the carrier adapted to engage the terminals on the housing.

5. An electric switch comprising, in combination, a switch housing; a plurality of terminals insulatingly attached to the housing; a shaft rotatably supported in the housing; an arm of insulating material pivotally attached to the shaft so as to rotate therewith and relatively thereto; a bridging contact on said arm adapted to engage the terminals on the housing; and a spring in the housing adapted to rotate the shaft and to urge the arm toward the terminals on the housing.

6. An electric switch comprising, stationary contacts; an actuator; a carrier; means securing the carrier to the actuator so that said carrier is rotatable with and relatively to the actuator; a bridging contact on the carrier; and a spring engaging the actuator and carrier tending to rotate the actuator into normal position and to oscillate the carrier about a pivot perpendicular to the actuator axis toward the stationary contacts.

7. In an automotive lighting and signaling system, a circuit closer comprising, a plurality of terminals arranged in a row, means for electrically connecting one of said terminals with one or more of the remaining ones, said means normally connecting an end terminal with an intermediate terminal, and means for optionally connecting the said intermediate terminal with an adjacent terminal coincident with or just before disconnecting the intermediate terminal with the said end terminal.

8. A circuit control device comprising in combination; a cup shaped housing of insulating material; terminals carried by the housing in spaced relation; a supporting bracket, said bracket closing the open end of said housing; a shaft rotatably supported by the housing and the bracket; an insulating member attached to the shaft so as to rotate therewith and relative thereto; a bridging contact on said insulating member adapted to engage the terminal on the housing; control means for rotating said shaft in one direction to bring the bridging contact into engagement with a pair of terminals; and a spring supported by said shaft and having one end anchored to said cover and the other end connected with said insulating member urging said bridging member against one pair of the terminals on the housing and urging the shaft in another direction of rotation to connect a secand pair of terminals; and means on the housing 1 to limit the movement of said insulating member in one direction.

WALTER W. RIEDEL. 

